Holiday Gift Guide
How could I not link to this: The Billable Hour Timepieces. Now, if they just had one suitable for young kids to get them in that tenth-of-an-hour habit early.
BlawgThink Agenda in MindManager!
We’re really excited about our partnership with MindJet. We have posted a Mind Map of the conference schedule on the LexThink website here. MindJet’s map viewer is still in beta, and you’ll need to view it in Explorer (and download an Active X control), but once you do, it is very cool to be able to move around a Mind Map live on the web.
Alternatively, if you’d like to download the Mind Map, you can do so here (761 KB). If you don’t have MindManager, you can download a viewer here.
Five by Five Live!
On this blog, I used to do a pretty cool series called Five by Five. I don’t know why I actually stopped doing it, but I’ve always liked the format and have been trying to start it up again.
At BlawgThink, we are bringing back the Five by Five, Live! Dennis and I will moderate a group of five bloggers who will share their insights into the future of blogging, technology, and legal practice. Here’s our panel:
Of all the sessions at BlawgThink, this is the one I’m most excited about. See you in Chicago!
Thank You, Tim McCarver ...
…for making yet another World Series almost unwatchable. Makes me wish for an RSS feed just for Joe Buck’s commentary. And I’m not alone. Here are the Google results for “Tim McCarver Sucks.” 15,200 results can’t be wrong. I’m rooting for the White Sox in four, just to get Tim McCarver to shut up.
Two Cool Time Wasting Web Thingies
I’ve been swamped with BlawgThink stuff lately, but finally spent the morning catching up on some of my feed reading. I came across these two cool sites that are worth a brief look:
The first is an online optical illusion. I’d love to figure out how to use this in a presentation.
The second is an real-time list of things people are tagging with De.licio.us. Very cool and strangely addicting.
Get in the Jungle
I took another look at my dog-eared copy of Tom Kelly’s The Art of Innovation after I posted Kathy Sierra’s take on his newest book earlier today. One passage I came across that I highlighted when I first read it was this one, which resonates with me even more now than it did before:
Whether it’s art, science, technology, or business, inspiration often comes from being close to the action. That’s part of why geography, even in the Internet age, counts. And why so many high-tech companies have emerged from Silicon Valley — and not Connecticut or even New York. New ideas come from seeing, smelling, hearing — being there.
This sensory immersion is why people still fly to other parts of the country for face-to-face meetings with clients, customers, and colleagues, even in the information age; why phone or videoconferencing often doesn’t do it. It’s also why people still go to museums, to be inspired in the presence of original artwork, though a digital image may be easily available on their home computer screen.
Asking questions of people who were there, who should know, often isn’t enough. It doesn’t matter how smart they are, how well they know the product or the opportunities. It doesn’t matter how many astute questions you ask. If you are not in the jungle, you're not going to know the tiger.
Come to BlawgThink. Join us in the jungle.
Showing Liz Mohler the Power of Blogs
I’m showing Liz Mohler, a tremendous speaker and meeting facilitator, how easy it is to write a blog post.
Forgive the Design Mess
I'm playing around with my templates, so to spare you the constant changes, I've switched for a few days to one of Typepad's new designs. I'll bring you back to a newer and better blog design next week. I'm also going to be consolidating some of my RSS feeds, so forgive me if things are a bit out of whack. Thanks for your patience.
Ban Laptops for Better Conferences?
I wrote about how I feel too much technology use by attendees can harm the conference experience in my Blogher Brain Dump. Now, D. Keith Robinson at To-Done gives another reason to leave laptop at home:
Over the last year or so, when I attend conferences (or meetings, or anything I want to make sure I remember something) I leave my laptop either in it’s bag during sessions, or I don’t bring it at all. This has worked out great, and just how I thought it would. I get much more out of sessions (etc.) when I’m taking notes by hand.
I think the main reason is that when I’ve got my laptop open, I’ve also opened a whole world of distraction. When you’ve only got a pad of paper and a pen or pencil, you can better concentrate on the world around you. I’ve also found that my notebook is a great place to capture ideas. Sometimes I get really great ideas when I’m at a conference. What I’ll do is open my notebook so that I’ve got two pages showing. On the right, I’ll take notes. On the left, I’ll jot down any ideas that come to mind.
As much as I love my Tablet PC, I’m doing most of my thinking these days in a Miquelrious Notebook (warning, Flash intensive site). I feel more connected with my thinking when I’m using pen and paper. I take my notebook with me everywhere I go and I jot down anything interesting that springs into my head. As much of a geek as I can be, I really of like the randomness of what’s in my notebook when I look though its pages. I consistently draw connections between new ideas and old in ways I don’t think I’d be able to using a pc– or web-based note taking system. Just knowing I can’t search my notebook by tag, topic, category, or word is oddly comforting.
Next time you are going to a conference, leave the laptop behind. Grab a nice journal and bring a good pen. You may just be surprised how much the analog experience suits you.
What is your master plan?
What’s your master plan? Here’s Google’s. Mine is in a MindManager mindmap that, if printed out, would be around five feet high and seven feet wide. I’m not sharing it just yet, but may do so soon.
A note from my friend, Doug Sorrocco
This comes from my friend, Doug Sorocco, of PHOSITA and Rethink(IP) fame, who e-mailed me this note today. I think so highly of Doug that I wanted to post his note in full:
As many of you know, I am the Chairman of the Spina Bifida Association of America which advocates on behalf of those affected by spina bifida and the 65 million women of child bearing age that are at risk for having a child with spina bifida – the most commonly permanently disabling birth defect compatible with life.
Our annual fundraiser is coming up in October – the Roast of Barbara Walters by members of Congress. If anyone is interested in attending, it is a lot of fun and there are many opportunities to hang out with media and governmental “movers and shakers”. Along with the Roast, we raffle a Porsche Boxster – only 2005 tickets will be sold, so there is a 1 in 2005 chance of winning the car. This event and raffle are the primary fundraising events that we host each year and the money raised is well stewarded – these funds are used for health promotion campaigns such as folic acid awareness (up to 75% of the occurrences of spina bifida can be prevented by taking folic acid prior to conception) as well as research into the effects of living with spina bifida (aging, medical etc.)
I know y’all have quite extensive networks and contacts including throughout the blogger-sphere as well as personally and I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to get this raffle in front of these folks. If you could forward this brochure on to the folks that you believe would be interested, I would greatly appreciate it (the link is here).
I did actually blog about my work with the SBA once and if you are interested in reading it, it can be found here.
Thank you for your support and allowing me to intrude into your email inbox.
Douglas
Congratulations Scheherazade!
My LexThink co-founder Scheherazade (Sherry) Fowler is sailing after her dream! Readers of Sherry’s blog know her first two loves are writing and sailing. How amazing for her to find a career that allows her to do both. Congratulations!